The Establishment media in Britain has sought to blame social media for the anti-mass migration riots, urging the government to enact more stringent censorship measures. Elon Musk, social media, and “disinformation” are seen as the main culprits behind the protests and riots that broke out across the country after three young girls were killed in a mass stabbing by an alleged second-generation migrant from Rwanda.
Legacy media outlets have argued that Elon Musk made Twitter “a safe space for racism and hate almost as soon as he bought it,” pointing to the reinstatement of banned personalities like Tommy Robinson and Andrew Tate. The Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland declared that if UK authorities truly want to hold accountable all those who unleashed riots and pogroms in Britain, they need to go after Elon Musk. He also suggested that if Kamala Harris is elected as U.S. president in the autumn, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer should work with the White House to implement a global clampdown on so-called disinformation.
There have been suggestions that the government shut down social media during times of unrest, and even deploying geo-blocking technology to prevent British users from accessing Twitter at all. It comes as the new left-wing Labour Party government is reportedly considering amendments to the Online Safety Act, which may seek to reinstate a scrapped provision to force social media companies to remove “legal but harmful” content on their platforms. The degree to which freedom of speech is being undermined around the world is extremely alarming,” said Mr Musk in defense of his platform’s free speech stance.